Friday, June 13, 2008

Saint of the week: St. Anthony of Padua (June 13th)/Joanne Ho

St. Anthony of Padua
Doctor of the Church

Feastday: June 13
b.1195 d.1231

Saint Anthony was canonized (declared a saint) less than one year after his death.

There is perhaps no more loved and admired saint in the Catholic Church than Saint Anthony of Padua, a Doctor of the Church. Though his work was in Italy, he was born in Portugal. He first joined the Augustinian Order and then left it and joined the Franciscan Order in 1221, when he was 26 years old. The reason he became a Franciscan was because of the death of the five Franciscan protomartyrs -- St. Bernard, St. Peter, St. Otho, St. Accursius, and St. Adjutus -- who shed their blood for the Catholic Faith in the year 1220, in Morocco, in North Africa, and whose headless and mutilated bodies had been brought to St. Anthony's monastery on their way back for burial. St. Anthony became a Franciscan in the hope of shedding his own blood and becoming a martyr. He lived only ten years after joining the Franciscan Order.

So simple and resounding was his teaching of the Catholic Faith, so that the most unlettered and innocent might understand it, that he was made a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius XII in 1946. Saint Anthony was only 36 years old when he died. He is called the "hammer of the Heretics" His great protection against their lies and deceits in the matter of Christian doctrine was to utter, simply and innocently, the Holy Name of Mary. When St. Anthony of Padua found he was preaching the true Gospel of the Catholic Church to heretics who would not listen to him, he then went out and preached it to the fishes. This was not, as liberals and naturalists are trying to say, for the instruction of the fishes, but rather for the glory of God, the delight of the angels, and the easing of his own heart. St. Anthony wanted to profess the Catholic Faith with his mind and his heart, at every moment.

He is typically depicted with a book and the Infant Child Jesus, to whom He miraculously appeared, and is commonly referred to today as the "finder of lost articles." Upon exhumation, some 336 years after his death, his body was found to be corrupted, yet his tongue was totally incorrupt, so perfect were the teachings that had been formed upon it.



聖安道 (St. Anthony of Padua 1195-1231)

慶日:6月13日

主保:文盲、貧苦者、被遺棄者和失物者

聖安道蒙天主召叫作為一位方濟會傳教士。然而,天主賦予他的卻是其他的使命。

主後1195年的8月15日,聖人誕生於葡萄牙的里斯本。他的雙親馬爾定(Martin)與瑪利亞(MariaBulhom),給其付洗的聖名是費納多(Fernando)。1210年時,他在里斯本先加入了奧斯定會(Canons of Saint Augustine),但這個修道院卻與他世俗的圈子過於接近,且教會與國王間的爭論也從未停息過。因此,二年後,聖人被允許轉往可茵波拉(Coimbra)的會院,該會院座落在里斯本北方約一百哩的城鎮中。聖人在該處學習聖經,並妥善預備自己的晉鐸(約1220年)。

1220 年,第一批在摩洛哥殉道的方濟會士(在1月16日紀念),他們的骨骸被攜回可茵波拉城之後,聖人便向來到會院門前行乞的方濟會士說:「親愛的弟兄們,若你們願意派我至阿拉伯人所在的地方,去收取與你們神聖的殉道者相同的莊稼,並分享他們的光榮的話,我將很樂意穿上你們的會衣。」

當時,因為小兄弟們在可茵波拉城的居所,奉獻給了埃及的隱士聖安當(St. Anthony the Egyptian hermit),故聖人便以他為其會名。一年後, 聖人去了摩洛哥,但因健康狀況不佳而被迫返回。

1221年,他的船在回程中行偏了,行駛到了西西里,他便在該處加入了一群小弟兄的行列,他們正要前往亞西西的聖神降臨堂。在該處,聖人見到了聖方濟本人,並被指派到北方的省區去。於是,他便在靠近Bologna的Monte Paolo的一座隱院服務。

1222年夏天,安道參與了幾位小兄弟的晉鐸禮。晚餐後,院長要求一位會士講道,但場中除了安道之外,所有的道明會士與方濟會士都婉拒了。他那篇講論基督服從至死的道理,使在場的所有會士都大感驚奇。從此,聖人他那隱藏的天賦就被揭露了出來!

很快地,安道就被指派給住在Bologna的會士們教授神學,此時,他先前在可茵波拉城所學習的東西就派上了用場。在教授學問上,安道謹記聖方濟給予他的教誨:絕不能為了學習神學而破壞了祈禱與虔敬的精神!的確,安道的學生是從一位聖善之人那學習聖經,他的聖善與其所學完全相稱。

稍後,安道獲得了在整個義大利北部宣講的許可,在該處異端的跟隨者甚眾。當時,教會所擁有的巨大財富引來了尖銳的議論;而表現出貧窮與簡樸的異議宣講者,更與當時神父與主教的生活形成強烈的對比。於是,安道便以他的宣講和其儉樸的生活方式,為教會贏得了許多皈依者。

1224年,安道被遣往法國南部宣講福音,該處的清教徒(Albigensians)擁有許多的信眾,但安道卻在那裡獲得了「異端之鎚(Hammer of Heretics)」的美譽。事實上,安道的聖德和愛德與他的學問一樣豐盛,這才是他說服異議者皈依的最大原因。

1227年,安道回到了義大利北部,在該處他受命為該地區的省會長,並繼續他那深獲人心的宣講。1228年,聖人來到了Padua,群眾立即為他的道理與善表所懾服。1231年,數千人聆聽著他一連串四旬期的道理。在他宣講的影響下,Padua城通過了一項法律,該項條文反對負債者應完全償清債務後才准予釋放的規定。

1231年春天,安道與同伴路加和羅傑二位弟兄(brothers Luke and Roger)離開了Padua城,一同前往在Camposampiero的會院,在該地,他有一處類似草屋般的隱院,安道願意在這裡祈禱並預備自己的死亡。

1231年的6月13日,安道病得極其嚴重,於是便要求能被帶回Padua城。在Arcella的會院裡,安道便在路途中領受了最後的聖事。最後,在交付靈魂前,他只簡短地喊叫說:「我看見主了!」

安道過世後不到一年,即被教會列為聖品(他在教會列聖的歷史中,仍保有最快被列品的紀錄 -死後僅352天即被公開列品),且在1946年被賦予「教會聖師」的頭銜。

聖人過世後一年,其舌被人發現仍保持鮮紅,聖文德(St Bonaventure)看到後,還因此流淚、親吻。如今,聖人的舌頭被置放在義大利Padua城的一個銀製盒子裡,至今仍是朝聖者的主要朝聖對象。

傳統上,民間還相信聖人是粗心者的主保,特別是那些遺失重要物品者。無論丟失的是寵物、值得紀念的物品,甚至是小孩,只要誦唸「Tony, Tony, look around. Something's lost that must be found.」的歌謠, 即能獲得聖人的協助找回該物。